Headspace · Product sense · Entry · 45 to 60 minutes

How should Headspace order first-run onboarding?

Headspace is a meditation and mental wellness app with guided sessions and a paid subscription. Answer this product management case and get it graded line by line against a weighted rubric.

Product sense
User empathy
Funnel thinking
Prioritization
Experiment design

The situation

You are the PM responsible for first-run onboarding at Headspace. The growth lead and design lead have asked you to recommend how the first experience should work for brand new users who install the app to manage stress, sleep better, or build a meditation habit. Today, onboarding includes account creation, product education, a few setup questions, and a subscription offer, but there is debate about the order. The revenue team wants to protect trial starts, while user feedback suggests people want to feel the product quickly before making any commitment. At the same time, the content team believes a little personalization early on could make the experience feel much more relevant. Assume that out of 100 new installers, 65 create an account, 42 complete the setup questions, 25 reach a first session, and 11 start a trial. You need to recommend a better first-run flow that balances personalization, low friction, and conversion, without turning this into a major rebuild.

What to produce

Write a 1 to 2 page product recommendation memo.

Your answer must

State the main user problem and the main business goal for first-run onboarding.
Propose a step by step onboarding flow, including account creation, any intent capture, the first content experience, and when the subscription screen should appear.
Explain 2 to 3 key tradeoffs in your design, such as personalization versus speed, or paywall timing versus trial starts.
Define the north star and 3 to 5 supporting metrics you would use to judge success across the funnel.
Describe one A/B test you would run first, including the variants, target metric, and what decision you would make from the results.

Constraints

A subscription offer must still appear somewhere in the first-run experience.
Do not assume new content formats, machine learning systems, or a major redesign of the app outside onboarding.
Your proposal should work for both iOS and Android, even if small platform specific differences remain.
Keep the scope to the first session only, not long term retention features.

Format

Use short sections with headings: problem, proposal, tradeoffs, metrics, experiment.

How Headspace actually played it

Walks through Headspace first-run: capturing user intent, the subscribe screen and a sample session. Shows how personalization and a taste of the product shape conversion.

Ask about intent early to personalize
Let users sample value before the paywall
Order onboarding steps by commitment

Built from Headspace: User onboarding personalization by Tear Them Down.